Three Plays by Aristophanes

by Jeffrey Henderson

These three plays by the great comic playwright Aristophanes (c. 446-386 BCE), the well-known Lysistrata , and the less familiar Women at the Thesmophoria and Assemblywomen , are the earliest surviving portrayals of contemporary women in the European literary tradition. These plays provide a unique glimpse of women not only in their familiar domestic roles but also in relation to household and city, religion and government, war and peace, theater and festival, and, of course, to men. This freshly revised edition presents, for the first time in a single volume, all three plays in faithful modern translations that preserve intact Aristophanes’ blunt and often obscene language, sparkling satire, political provocation, and beguiling fantasy. Alongside the translations are ample introductions and notes covering the politically engaged genre of Aristophanic comedy in general and issues of sex and gender in particular, which have been fully updated since the first edition in light of recent scholarship. An appendix contains fragments of lost plays of Aristophanes that also featured women, and an up-to-date bibliography provides guidance for further exploration. In addition to their timeless humor and biting satire, the plays are unique and invaluable documents in the history of western sexuality and gender, and they offer strikingly prescient speculations about the social and political future of the female sex.

Genres: Classics, Plays, Fiction, Drama, School, College, Satire

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 392

About the author

Jeffrey Henderson is the William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Greek Language and Literature, and former Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, at Boston University. He was raised in Verona, New Jersey and educated at Kenyon College (BA 1968), where he also received an honorary degree in 1994, and Harvard University (MA 1970, PhD 1972). Henderson came to Boston University in 1991 as Chair of the Department of Classical Studies and was the founding Director of the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program. He held previous professorships at Yale University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Southern California, where he chaired the Department of Classics and won the Raubenheimer Distinguished Faculty Award.
Professor Henderson is known for his pioneering work on Greek drama and politics, and for his editions and translations of the comic playwright Aristophanes. He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and for 2012 served as President of the American Philological Association, the principal professional organization of classicists in North America, in which he previously served as a Director and as the Vice President for Research. Since 1998 he has been the General Editor of the Loeb Classical Library, published by the Harvard University Press and the world’s premier series of texts and translations of Greek and Latin authors. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Women strike: a beautiful theme, wonderfully and very realistically worked out, with particularly vile language. Quite amusing play, but with a weak ending.
Women's Party: dark, complex and inimitable piece full of references to the work of Euripides; not really enjoyable.
Women politics: fresh and funny play, strongly similar to Women Strike, but weakening towards the end. It's aotable satire on aspects of the democratic system: the chitchat-retoric, the people just attend the meetings to gather their fees, etc.
(rating 2.5 stars)

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon Three Plays by Aristophanes: Staging Women when I was neck-deep in the heavyweights — Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, the whole tragic bro brigade. And then came Aristophanes, like a tipsy uncle at a wedding who starts roasting the politicians and the aunts in the same breath. These plays didn’t whisper wisdom. They marched in wearing wigs and togas, yelling, “Move over, men — the women are taking charge!”

Lysistrata was the first punch: women using a sex strike to stop a war? That’s not just revolutionary — that’s reality TV, 2,400 years before Bravo existed. Then The Assemblywomen took the whole idea of government and turned it into a wild, socialist fever dream where women literally seize the state — and the men just… flop. Thesmophoriazusae is pure meta chaos, with gender-swapped disguises and playwrights being roasted alive.

Reading these, I remembered my school play — a gender-flipped Macbeth — where our Lady M. stole the show and the boys sulked backstage. Aristophanes would've been proud. His women aren't perfect. They're political, hilarious, dangerous, and absurd — and somehow, more real than half the philosophers who claim to explain the cosmos.

These aren’t just plays. They’re protests in poetry. They’re lipstick-smeared revolutions.

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that I didn't just whip this off the shelf, thinking, "Boy, it's been a long time since I read any good Attic comedy... ooh, and here's a new translation."

No, this was assigned reading for one of my few college courses that had no equations. These three plays of Aristophanes all prominently feature women. "Lysistrata" deals with a sexual strike coordinated by the women of Athens and Sparta to make their men forge a peace treaty and end the war. "Women at the Thesmophoria" is about an all-female festival invaded by a man who wishes to convince the women of Athens that his kinsman, Euripedes, is not, in fact, a misogynist. And "Assemblywomen" is about a takeover of the Athenian democracy by women and the resulting communistic (except for slaves, women, and foreigners) state that arises.

Of the three, "Lysistrata" is the best. They're all *very* broad and vulgar comedies, but "Lysistrata" is the wittiest and most appealing to the modern reader. They're all very worth reading to get insight into the classical Greek (man's) mind, but they're really a bit silly otherwise.

[Carol · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK, I rated this for the translator (Jeffrey Henderson), not the plays. And I only read a little bit of Lysistrata before deciding that this version is not for me. I had previously read the play as translated by Benjamin Brinkley Rogers, and was looking forward to reading it again. But I'm not even going to finish the prologue, let alone the entire play. and never mind the other plays.

Now, maybe I'm just a grumpy old woman. And maybe this translation is true to the rowdy approach of the original Greek play. But I found the language horribly crude and verging on the obscene. If you don't mind that, I say more power to you and enjoy the book.

I will stick with the old one, in which the women ended the war by withholding "loving." That's clear enough for me.

[Sammi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are so many sex jokes in Lysistrata. This is not only a significant part of the plot, but the play's defining characteristic. Each of these jokes was met with either winces or laughs, depending on the context and the originality. It got to a point when I rolled by eyes at the "on top" jokes, and the "hard" ones weren't funny to begin with. My personal favorite by far was the mention of "runway inflation", which actually made me laugh aloud.

So yes, the play was funny, and the lecture on Thursday will no doubt be hysterical, but it really isn't my cup of tea.

[Bonnie]

Done with this for now, although I plan to come back to it and read introductions and the closing fragments. Lysistrata, Assemblywomen, and Women at the Thesmophoria for a Woman in Antiquity class--Aristophanes is so much better than Lysistrata gives him credit for. I now have, at least, some blossoming interest in comedy.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Lysistrata from this book, for my Greece and Gender class.

[Loretta Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck yeah greek feminists

[Mahmoud Khaleil]

برلمان النساء تُرجم أيضآ ( نساء الجمعية ، عضوات الكونجرس ، نساء في البرلمان ، نساء في السلطة ، وبرلمان النساء) هي كوميديا كتبها الكاتب المسرحي اليوناني أريستوفان في عام 391 قبل الميلاد. تهدف إلى انتقاد المجتمع الذكوري والحكومة الأثينية في ذلك الوقت ، أفكار المؤلف واتجاهاته الفلسفية في هذه المسرحية تدل علي تأثره بآراء أفلاطون التي وردت في كتابه " الجمهورية " ، و ربما كان يهدف إلي السخرية من تلك الآراء بطريقته الخاصة .
استطاعت براكساجورا " ذات التدبير المحكم " أن تدبر مؤامرة مع بنات جنسها من الأثينيات ضد الرجال، لأنهم أغرقوا أثينا في ويلات الحروب ، و بدأت المؤامرة بأن ارتدت براكساجورا مع صويحباتها زي أزواجهن النائمين، وتسللن خارجات من بيوتهن قبيل بزوغ الشمس ، و قمن بالذهاب إلي الجمعية العامة لأثينا [4] التي كان يحضر جلساتها كل من يريد من الأثينيين ، وهناك استصدرن قانونا بأغلبية الأصوات -لأن معظم الحاضرين كانوا في الغالب من النساء المتنكرات في زي الرجال- بأن تسلم أمور الدولة ومقاليد الحكم فيها إلي أيدي النساء، حيث أن الرجال قد عجزوا عن إدارتها .
و بطبيعة الحال لم يتمكن الأزواج من الخروج من منازلهم بعد أن استولت زوجاتهم علي ملابسهم . فقنعوا بارتداء ملابس الزوجات، وخرجوا علي استحياء يتنسمون الأخبار، حيث علموا بالقرار الجديد الذي يقضي بانتخاب حكومة من النساء . و بعد نجاح المؤامرة يتم انتخاب براكساجورا رئيسة للحكومة النسائية الجديدة، لأنها نالت ثقة النساء بجرأتها وحسن تدبيريها، ومن ثم تعود إلي زوجها بليبيروس " المتلصص " الذي قبع في المنزل يتسامر مع جاره خريميس " ذو الغطيط " و هما بملابس النساء، وتشرح له النظام الاجتماعي الجديد الذي اعتزمت تطبيقه في أثينا تمهيدا لإصلاح شأأنها وانتشالها من التدهور
الفكرة راقت للمخرجة العراقية فاطمة نعيم فقامت بتعريب النص الاغريقي وبدأت بمشاركة عدد كبير من الممثلات العراقيات بالتدريب في قاعة المسرح الوطني ببغداد. ولماذا المسرح تحديدا ؟ تقول فاطمة نعيم : المسرح هو مدرسة مسائية تعلم وتثقف الناس وتنورهم وتوعيهم ايضا ، ثم انه ضمير الناس المعبر عن همومهم وتطلعاتهم واحلامهم ، ونحن نعرف ان الفنون والثقافة هي صمامات امان للحفاظ على المجتمعات وتماسكها والفن من خلال المسرح هو احد الاوجه المعتمدة لاحداث هذا التغيير الايجابي والجيد وحفظ لحمة المجتمع ، وتضيف : برلمان النساء هو عمل انتقادي ساخر يجمع ما بين العمل الكوميدي والغناء والرقص الايقاعي وهو لا يؤلب بقدر ما ينبه ويشخص سلبيات ويؤكد على الجوانب الايجابية للخروج من محنة تضرب في المجتمع العراقي الان ، العمل رحلته من القرون الماضية في الزمن الاغريقي الى الالفية الثالثة لانني اردت ان انتج خطابا معرفيا جماليا فكريا انسانيا نقديا ساخرا لهذه الزمن المعاصر بلون جديد بهموم وخطوط عراقية وشخصيات واحداث وصراعات عراقية ، وهو يعتمد على برلمان لنسوة يمنعن ازواجهن من الخروج من البيوت بعد ان يغلقن عليهم الابواب ويجتهدن في ان يقودن البرلمان بما ان الازواج البرلمانيين كما جاء على لسانه احداهن (قضوا الوقت كله بالسفرات والايفادات والمناكفات والمشاكسات وخصومات ومهاترات) هن سيقودن البرلمان نحو بر الامان بشكل اكفأ واجمل وافضل باعتبارهن اناثا يعرفن حاجة المجتمع ويتحملن المسؤولية الأكبر عنه ، وهنا تدخل المماحكات والتجاذبات فيما بينهن لان الحياة السياسية لا بد ان تنعكس على الحياة الاجتماعية سلبا او ايجابا.

[Thom Van den Bosch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drie komedies waarin vrouwen centraal staan. Het zijn interessante stukken om de man-vrouwverhoudingen in het oude Athene te bekijken. In eerste instantie lijken het feministische stukken, aangezien de vrouwen het recht in handen nemen. In vrouwenstaking dwingen ze met een seksstaking (ze onthouden hun echtgenoten het genot) de vrede af, in vrouwenpolitiek nemen de vrouwen de macht over van de mannen die de politiek domineren. Zoals wordt betoogd in secundaire literatuur en ook hier tussen de regels door te begrijpen is, valt het echter mee met dat feminisme: Aristofanes schat juist de prestaties van de mannen zo laag in dat zij zelfs door een lagere sociale klasse worden overtroffen. Het betreft dus geen emancipatie voor vrouwen maar snoeiharde kritiek op mannen, verpakt in satire. Dat wil niet zeggen dat er geen enkele waardering is voor de rol van de vrouw in de maatschappij, het betekent wel dat een rol binnen het mannelijke, politieke domein buiten bereik blijft.

Aristofanes is op zijn best als hij zijn fantasie gebruikt en alledaagse maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen in absurde omgevingen plaatst. Denk aan de Vogelstad bij Vogels of Dionysos die een goede dichter uit de onderwereld oppikt (Kikkers). Vrouwenfeest en Vrouwenpolitiek blijven echter veel in banale dialogen op de markt hangen.

Lysistrata/vrouwenstaking is veruit het beste stuk, waarvan het onderwerp nog steeds fris en origineel aandoet. Het blijft grappig hoe plat de Grieken konden zijn. Volgens vertaler Hein van Dolen zou een echte seksstaking echter weinig nut hebben gehad, de mannen konden immers ook naar de hoeren of hadden seks met puberjongens. Voor wie humor om machtsrelaties draait, blijft de lach wat wrang.

[Naomi Grimm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall really enjoyed reading this and understanding the background information behind these plays.

[Tallulah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clear, hilarious translations that perfectly capture Aristophanes' crude sense of humor.

[Teun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lysistrata (Vrouwenstaking) 4 ⭐️, Thesmoforiazousai (Vrouwenfeest) 3 ⭐️, Ekklesiazousai (Vrouwenpolitiek) 3,5 ⭐️, ben niet zo’n grote fan van de vertaling van H. van Dolen

[Anni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aristophanes would have loved dominant women

[Nick Mehalick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid translation and endnotes are incredibly helpful/insightful.

[lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

so funny because men are ridiculous

[Brinkley Blum]

Read: Lysistrata

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iconic in every way

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

only read the first two so far - imma knock that third one out soon. i enjoyed them a lot.